3rd person charged in 5 Chatham slayings

Suspect is alleged mastermind of April house robbery that turned violent

Authorities Tuesday afternoon charged a third person in the killing of five people in the Chatham neighborhood in April.

Michael King, 27, whose last known address was in the 6400 block of South Kenwood Avenue, was charged with five counts of murder, five counts of armed robbery and one count of home invasion, police said.

King was the alleged mastermind behind the robbery, which turned violent and ended with the fatal shooting of Donovan Richardson, Anthony Scales Jr., Whitney Flowers, Reginald Walker and Lakesha Doss, sources said.

King knew at least one of the victims, allowing him and the two others to get inside the home April 23, sources said. There they robbed the victims of jewelry, TVs and cash.

King confessed to the crime, telling police that one of the other men snapped and shot one of the victims, leading to the decision to kill the others, one source said.

Two other men, Torolan Williams, 22, of the 11600 block of South Artesian Avenue and Arthur Brown, 24, of Lansing, were previously charged with the murders.

King, who had no prior record in Illinois, was arrested under an alias on an unrelated drug charge this month, sources said.

Police said no other offenders are being sought in this case.

Police had been looking for King. They located him under an alias at Cook County Jail on unrelated charges, police said.

King has a previous arrest in Arizona on a kidnapping charge, sources said.